Why human rights matter for marine conservation

Abstract

Human rights matter for marine conservation because people and nature are inextricably linked. A thriving planet cannot be one that contains widespread human suffering or stifles human potential; and a thriving humanity cannot exist on a dying planet. While the field of marine conservation is increasingly considering human well-being, it retains a legacy in some places of protectionism, colonialism, and fortress conservation. Here, we i) provide an overview of human rights principles and how they relate to marine conservation, ii) document cases where tensions have occurred between marine conservation goals and human rights, iii) review the legal and ethical obligations, and practical benefits, for marine conservation to support human rights, and iv) provide practical guidance on integrating human rights principles into marine conservation. We argue that adopting a human rights-based approach to marine conservation, that is integrating equity as a rights-based condition rather than a charitable principle, will not only help meet legal and ethical obligations to respect, protect, and fulfil human rights, but will also result in greater and more enduring conservation impact.

Protection of the Civilian Population from Human Rights Violations through European Mechanisms in Wartime

“…Our study supports recommendations (Mahdanian et al, 2023) regarding developing specialised programmes to protect vulnerable populations, including children and women, and emphasises the importance of information campaigns. Smallhorn-West et al (2023) draw attention to the need to implement effective monitoring missions in countries with hostilities to facilitate the recording of war crimes. A comparison of data obtained by Loeffler (2023) with his results confirms the hypothesis of the need for an integrated approach to solving the problem of human rights protection.…”

Abanfan matilon, a local wisdom in marine ethnoconservation system on the coast of Liki Island, Sarmi District, Papua, Indonesia

“…Furthermore, traditional customary leaders organize agreements and lead the implementation of rules and sanctions, as well as religious leaders and village authority holders who supervise and enforce agreed-upon customary rules. Traditionally recognized natural resource management by all parties is often the best method to maintain the sustainable benefits of important natural resources in coastal and marine areas (de Oliveira 2013; Gaymer et al 2014;Abreu et al 2017;McLeod et al 2018;Alexander et al 2019;Bennett et al 2021;de Sousa et al 2022;Smallhorn-West et al 2023). This is because local community wisdom based on conservation can be a reference for continuous practice in all aspects (Le Heron et al 2019;Ogar et al 2020;Saputra 2021;Matsushita et al 2023).…”

Grand challenges in marine governance for ocean sustainability in the twenty-first century

“…Indeed, some authors already perceive a paradigm shift from the treatment of Ocean resources as shared property of mankind to an exclusionary approach emphasizing restricted or altogether prevented access, further disenfranchising already marginalized communities (Cabral and Aliño, 2011;Wolff, 2015). This underlines that questions of environmental justice and equity, in multiple dimensions (e.g., resource access, gender) and across different scales [e.g., Global North and South, local communities vs. (trans-)national actors], are at the heart of sustainable Ocean governance (Bennett, 2022;Smallhorn-West et al, 2023;Spalding et al, 2023). A promising development is that some government agencies are developing frameworks to account for these aspects in their policies and plans (e.g., NOAA Fisheries, 2023).…”